Saturday, December 09, 2006
The Panel Obsession
..These days we seem to focus on the panel so much. The way to deliver the research. This has allowed many new players to come to the market who are not from a research background. Of course the low barriers to entry and the nature of the internet make this a very attractive option.
However can the panel concept only be optimised through research knowledge?
What about quality of sampling?
What about the questionnaire on-line design?
What about the survey itself (it is a website after all). Does that require research optimisation?
What about data quality optimisation?
What about the insights themselves?
What about the way the panel is managed from a research perspective?
I don't see ISO looking at these things? I don't see ESOMAR looking at these things? Yet the truth is that a panel has little intrinsic value in its own right. It's what you do with it that adds value .
I say let's stop obsessing on recruitment and panels in isolation from the way the panel is used and the quality of research thinking that goes into building, maintaining and using it.
Is that dialectical thinking? Maybe Marx does have a place!
However can the panel concept only be optimised through research knowledge?
What about quality of sampling?
What about the questionnaire on-line design?
What about the survey itself (it is a website after all). Does that require research optimisation?
What about data quality optimisation?
What about the insights themselves?
What about the way the panel is managed from a research perspective?
I don't see ISO looking at these things? I don't see ESOMAR looking at these things? Yet the truth is that a panel has little intrinsic value in its own right. It's what you do with it that adds value .
I say let's stop obsessing on recruitment and panels in isolation from the way the panel is used and the quality of research thinking that goes into building, maintaining and using it.
Is that dialectical thinking? Maybe Marx does have a place!
